Main Ingredients:

See below ingredients and instructions of the recipe

Cooking Preparation of the Recipe:

See below

~Butternuts are closely related to black walnuts [and regular English
walnuts too].

~the nuts are long and narrow not spherical.
~the range is farther north and east into New Brunswick. [I don't
know how far south they go- do you have them around Fort Worth?]
~butternuts have hard shells but the kernels come out easily.
~the nuts are VERY sweet and oily.
~they are interchangeable in recipes.

~Now to the acorns. This is what the book has to say:

~Fruit of any of ten species of the oak genus in the beech family.

~[Description omitted because I *think* everyone knows what an oak
leaf and an acorn look like.]

~The acorns of all oaks are edible if prepared properly; but some
are more palatable than others. White and chestnut oak acorns are
sweet, whereas red oak acorns are bitter and must be leached of
their excessive tannic acid before they can be eaten. By tasting a
raw acorn you will know if leaching is necessary or not. Do not eat
unprocessed bitter acorns in any quantity.

~To leech: Crack open the acorns and thoroughly dry them. Cover with a
generous quantity of water, bring to a boil and keep boiling 2
hrs. Pour off the now darkened water, cover the acorns with fresh
cold water and allow them to soak 3-4 days, changing water
occasionally. The acorns are now re-dried and used whole or ground
into meal.

~To Use:
~roast and salt whole.
~grind into a meal in a mortar and prestle, blender or food processor
and use for porridge, mush, and as a substitute for part [ up to 1/2]
of the flour in cakes, breads and muffins.
~use acorn flour as a soup and sauce thickener.
~use ground and toasted acorns as a coffee substitute.

~ WARNING: never eat bitter acorns in quantity without leaching out
the tannic acid. Many cases of livestock poisoning and loss have
been reported from consumption of red oak acorns. The shoots and
foliage are poisonous too for the same reason. Medical use of
tannins for diarrhoea, hemorrhoids and burns has been discontinued
due to liver damage.

~Indian Use: a staple food from eastern Canada to California. They
developed several leaching processes besides the one outlined above
including wood ash leaching, burial and aging, and powdering and
placing the meal in a tightly woven basket in a running stream.

Jim Weller 10/07/95

Recipe By : Published by the National Museums of Canada

From: Marjorie Scofield Date: 11-14-95 (13:44)
(160) Fido: Recipes

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